Last month was supposedly the end of the world here, a big marketing coup from the not so Mayan descendents of one of the greatest civilizations of the world.
We had been talking about the what ifs of the end of the world with BF for about a year. During our 5 months motorcycle trip around Europe, it was a recurring topic on camping nights. One has to get entertained and being 24/7 with the same person, you have to find crazy topics to discuss.
Anyway, I got to reflect on how we could survive a big disaster. The kind that would leave us without internet connection, without a legal tender, without roads and without electric power. How would I call my family to let them know I am still alive and see if they are? What would we have to barter for food? Could we make fire?
When we came back to Guatemala, there was a big earthquake on the coast. We started considering that the world may not end, but there may be a big natural catastrophe that could change a lot of things in the region. After all, the Mayas supposedly predicted the end of their world, and we were living 30 miles away from the biggest city they ever built.
How does that apply to you? Well, it does. Your world may end suddenly. It could be an accident, the death of a spouse, having to support your elderly parents, losing your job… How do you survive?
Do you have a life insurance?
If your spouse or your family is relying on your income, then you should have a life insurance. Nobody depends on my income but I still have an insurance that covers huge hospital bills or repatriation if I die. I wouldn’t want to be a burden to anyone.
I don’t know much about life insurance, so do your research or seek advice. Know your coverage, will it be enough for your family?
Do you have enough saved up?
Whatever the amount the insurance will give you, they will always try for it to be a minimum. You may get 70% or even 50% of your last salary. Are you able to live on that for the rest of your life? If the answer is no, do you have enough money saved up to at least keep your lifestyle going for a few months while you figure things out? Say your spouse can go back to work, how long would it take? Three months of job search or a full year to get an additional degree? Can you wait for that long?
Do you have skills?
The best way to weather a storm is to be independent. When you look at our situation, having a paid for little house, a garden and a few animals, we should be just fine economically if disaster struck. We could live off the land, sell or barter animals to buy the products we need. But in the case of a natural disaster, where we are on our own, we have no skills to butcher animals while the garden grows to a sustainable point.
Without going that far, if you are left without a job, are you able to do all the things you are currently paying for but won’t be able to afford on your own? I can change my car oil, cook most food from scratch, grow a garden (due to heavy rains and the hens eating my crop, that is still a work in progress), I currently hand wash my clothes so if I have a washing machine later, I still know that I am able to take care of the house without any help.
You are absolutely right to be enjoying life right now and paying for convenience on many occasion. But the day you can’t pay anymore, will you take over easily or will there be a lot of learning involved?
Do you have social capital?
I was affirming to BF that we had it pretty good, being near a clear body of water, owning hundreds of heads of cattle and enough land to start extensive crops. But if disaster really struck, what about that open lakefront, where anyone could invade the property and steal our chickens, or kill us for food? My point is, as big as our safety net is, there used to be no one to have our back around here. The situation has changed since we have employed a dozen persons in the village so far, and gained their respect.
In case of an emergency, do you know your neighbors? Can you ask them to take care of your kid, your pet, or water your plants? Do you help them back on a regular basis? Imagine you are a stay at home mum, that just got divorced. You have to go back to work. Can you find a temporary arrangement for your children while you look for jobs? Finding a paid alternative, baby, pet or house sitter can be expensive and complicated. Your community is one of your best assets in case of an emergency.
Are you enjoying life like it actually may end some day?
Joe had a pretty sad comment on my last 13 money resolutions for 2013 post about enjoying life. He talked about one of his customers who was diagnosed with a terminal illness, and decided to take is wife traveling around and doing all the things they hadn’t done during their marriage. Then, realizing he was not as ill as initially announced, he went back to his usual long working hours and forgot his dreams.
That is like the movie UP where the husband is already a widow when he fulfills his and his wife’s dream to go explore the world on an hot air balloon. If you are financially stable, you should be enjoying life today, because you never know what tomorrow can bring. If you died tomorrow, would you be happy with the life you have lived so far?
This is a long shot, I admit. But illness, death and other life tragedies can happen sooner than expected. Although you should hope for the best, you should prepare for the worse.
What are your thoughts? Are you prepared for the worse?
Good points. Your world can mean much more than just the planet. It can also have personal and emotional connotations. I’m definitely not prepared for the worst. I don’t think I would be able live happily in a place without internet or electricity lol. The worst thing that could happen for everyone I think is that money is no longer useful. Then all the rich and poor people will be equal, and it will be back like the feudal system. Those who own land or other valuable assets will have more power. Good thing we both have farms 😀
I think you’d need a gun too! It would be funny to see a rich person who ”only” owns mansions with very little land be forced to go work and grow food on someone else’s plot.
Great points to consider… I like to think that I am (mostly) living my life to make the most of the NOW. That is such a sad thought that someone could start living their dream then stop again… it doesn’t take a terminal illness for everyone
Many are like this. Like the little old man everyone thought was the town’s pauper who died donating millions to the local charity. There is often a story like that in the papers. Having millions and living in a dump eating cat food is a little too much for my taste! But how do you know what you dream is when you have never been presented with other opportunities than work and come back home at night?
Outside of working towards financial independence and building a possibly excessive emergency fund I don’t really do much survivalist style planning.
I can survive a week with no power. I’ve done it before both on camping trips and during an actual disaster.
But as for living off the land or bartering possessions, I have neither the skills nor the resources to do this.
You seem already covered against 99.99% of life’s disasters! I don’t think the survival thing will ever be needed, but we should all be able to manage a 3 days storm.
I would say I am not as prepared as I could be if a “disaster” happened (whatever that disaster may be). I have started to read up more on what you can do to prepare, and I would like to take some basic precautions. I think learning skills is the most practical thing you can do, since it can benefit you even if disaster never hits.
Starting with life insurance and a few months of savings you should be just fine in most cases. Then going with skills is a wise move, the day you live in a more remote area and can save a one hour drive to go have your oil changed is very convenient for example.
Good post Pauline! I’d like to say that I am prepared and have all of the bases covered, but then I’d be lying. 😉 Quite a few of them we have covered, but others are not covered at all. The thing that I fall behind on is in the skills area, which all that takes is some work to teach yourself to do basic things which then build on each other. It’s just like learning to do things around the house…you teach yourself something simple and you can do bigger projects over time.
It is easy to go lazy on the skills since someone else is doing it for you. I try to watch the workers on my house, at least even though I don’t get my hands dirty I have a rough idea of how things are done.
I can hunt with either a bow or a gun, so I would be pretty ok there. I guess if there was no formal bartering system I could team up with other friends and we could offer mafia style protection to people who had food or land… just kidding… sort of
Bow hunting, I am impressed! Unfortunately, there would be some kind of security needed. I read a book like that, where people where only living in the big cities, under a bubble, and the rest of the world was a no rights zone, you had to be armed and ready to fight for your life at any time. The idea was quite scary.
What about the zombie apocalypse? Anyone thinking about that?
Totally unprepared for a zombie apocalypse. Maybe staying in a sunny place and avoiding the shadow will do the trick?
I didn’t even consider the whole zombie thing 🙂 Ha!
That is a pretty sad story from AverageJoe! I would imagine a scare like that would really change who you are inside, but apparently that’s not the case for everybody.
I’m prepared for the worst in some scenarios but not in others. I have life insurance, but if things went haywire then so be it. I have some guns and that’s about all I need. There are some things I simply can’t control and I try not to live my life based on fears and ‘what ifs’. That’s pretty cool that your and your BF talked about that kind of stuff though. Those would be hilarious conversations.
The conversations were pretty fun! I hope most people don’t need a death threatening scare to start living the way they want. One month before ”the end”, my BF asked what I wanted to do if I had one month left, and I was pretty happy to realize that I wouldn’t do things much differently.
i have wondered how i would do in a post-apocalyptic world (whenever i am watching too many movies), and i have my concerns.. i don’t especially like firearms.. i don’t have many skills outside of the digital world.. i don’t stockpile survival supplies..
but i do have a strong will to live and protect my family.. so hopefully that would be enough 🙂
I am not sure about my will to live in a world where I would starve and fight for my life every day. If the close future looks bright, maybe, but years like this isn’t life!
No, I would just hope I’d be in the epicenter of the end of the world so I could avoid that whole survival crap. I don’t even like camping. :))
lol. I hope to be in the epicenter too if things get really bad.
This post speaks to me. I am working hard to prepare my family if something were to happen to me. I am trying to find a good life insurance policy to supplement what I have from work, but since I have a health condition, it makes it hard to find one that is affordable. This is my last item on my checklist.
I am very ready for the zombie apocalypse, so I don’t have to worry about that!
With an existing condition it makes insurance so complicated. I imagine even if something completely unrelated happens, they would try to play that card. Maybe you can try to pay extra and get better coverage from the work one? And ask if they will still cover you should you change job.
Yeah, I can pay more for the work one, but I still have to have the health exam and that is where I get kicked in the butt. I am not unhealthy, but just have a medical condition, so it doesn’t matter if I am the right weight and height, it’s all about the condition. Stupid insurance.
I think you’re in a pretty good position if there’s a big disaster. I can’t say the same amount myself! Yes, we could live on pasta and stuff for quite awhile, but we live in a condo that is firmly in the middle of winter at the moment. Thankfully, we don’t have many liabilities nor any dependents, so the cash aspect isn’t nearly as big.
With enough food for a week in case you get seriously snowed in I guess you are covered against most disasters. I wonder if the world population would spread differently if we had a huge disaster, I don’t think people in Canada with a 4 months window to sow and harvest would be able to feed themselves for example, they would have to go live in Mexico!
I try to make every day count! I managed to do all the things I ever wanted to do, but there are still some left to do. I really look forward to tomorrow to do more and experience more. I have the skills, experience and knowledge to cope with change although I just as soon keep everything as it is right now. I am happy with my status quo!
great mindset Larry!
My wife is supposed to have a free life insurance policy through work at 150% of her base salary. Somehow, 150% of her base salary apparently works out to about 85% of her gross income. She doesn’t work that much overtime!
strange. At least it is something!
I’d be ok with most “small” disasters, but I’d be screwed in an end of the world scenario! I don’t have nearly enough ammo or canned goods stocked up 🙂
End of the world is quite unlikely, I still like to have food for a week in case of a storm or getting snowed in.
I am not very tough when it comes to fighting off people, but we get along well with our neighbors and they have lots of guns, so we could be the lookouts and they could do the shooting! Seriously, though, we have quite a bit of camping gear that we could potentially use to start a fire and cook if we needed to. There are plenty of deer and geese around if my neighbors could shoot them, we could cook them. We also have a small camper that we could run on propane for a week or so if we had to. I hope we don’t, but you never know.
You never know when you may need a heavily armed neighbor!
I think we’d manage to survive if things got pretty rough; the survival of the fittest mentality would emerge that’s for sure. We do our best to enjoy life in the present and take time everyday to be thankful for what we have. That’s a seriously sad story that Average Joe shared…
Thankfulness is a great mindset. Yeah, it would be survival of the fittest, and the douches with the biggest guns!
I have a policy thru work and its not much. I am not ready for the “big one” but I do have water and other supplies stashed in various places. You just never know where the stuff might end up buried.
Its really hard to plan for those major natural disasters, but I have a few things. I live in So. Cal and its not a matter of if, its a matter of when.
I hope I am out of town.
crazy, but good point, to stash food in different places!
These are great things to consider, especially life insurance. It’s so sad when a spouse passes and the other is left with nothing. Life insurance might not bring your loved one back, but at least you won’t have to worry about how to keep the lights on while you’re grieving.
well said Justing, it would be terrible for a stay at home wife with no marketable skills to be left with nothing.
Great post! Good to hear about your motorcycle trip. I also agree that you need life insurance. Many Americans don’t have life insurance and they don’t understand the importance of life insurance.
Unfortunately you can’t tell adults what to do! Many find out too late they should have had life insurance.
I’m glad the world didn’t end 🙂 We got hit pretty hard by hurricane Sandy and it made us realize there are a few things we’d need if another serious natural or terrorist disaster hit the city again. One of those things was a windup radio/flashlight and phone charger, which my mother so kindly bought us for Christmas. We’d also try to leave the city if there were another disaster, because after a few days there’s not enough food and water for everyone and things get a little dicey err dangerous.
Yes, if it is a long term problem, the city is the worst place to go, since it relies almost only on outside providers.
You are right anything could happen at any time and we should be prepared. I’m not as prepared as I could be as there are always things to learn. Financially sure we’ll be fine, life insurance sure we have it but if it were survival skills needed I’d fail to some degree as I’ve never went that far in terms of my learning experience. Lots to think about.
Survival skills are a bit extreme, but I like to know that in a financial emergency I can take care of most things myself. I can afford a handyman today but could do his job if I didn’t have money.
I’m definitely not as prepared as I could be, but I’m getting better.
The realization that you’re more vulnerable than you think is not always a comforting one. It’s something that I want to correct, and that’s motivating!
It is not comforting but it can help you live life to the fullest, and work towards being prepared.
I calculated this late last year and at that point in time we could afford to live for 12 years without generating any additional income – this also meant that we were back to square one in terms of our retirement planning, but it is nice to know that we have a buffer if we need it.
12 years is pretty comforting! and it is probably more if you make some cuts in your budgets.
If the world ended tomorrow, there wouldn’t be much point in owning a farm. More likely, would be a massive “shift’ in how daily life is conducted. In poorer, resource-scarce world, a small farm would be a productive asset. One that would be hard to defend though, unless done together as a community (to your point about social capital).
I recently read Debt: The First 5000 Years which makes a convincing case that barter is not the natural way to handle trade when you don’t have money. It even mentions examples of people creating virtual credit in currencies they haven’t seen for a few hundred years, as well as many other ways that people have historically survived in primitive economies. We came from there so it can’t be that hard!
That said I like to think my charisma and leadership will make me some kind of tribal king 🙂
Ha! With all the charisma you will need to recruit some strong arms first! Interesting facts about the history of currencies, I still like the idea of bartering though, sometimes paying something online with money that got deposited directly into my account and I never saw takes the fun out of the transaction.
I’m sure Canadians can form a peaceful post-apocalyptic society!
lol I just saw how I met your mother, the last one was making fun of Canadians for being so polite even when they are angry! It would be so nice if all societies could function peacefully without rules or a government.
I enjoyed your post
games of sniper shooting
Very impressive. You piked the most important points. I faced a critical moment a few years ago when I was in a hunting expedition. That was quite a story!! It gives me a voice of what is an emergency!!